Cochenour Gallery exhibit focuses on Unintended Consequences

2011 monotype image entitled Spread by Birds, 30″ x 42″.

GEORGETOWN, KY – Unintended Consequences is the title and theme of April Flanders’ March printmaking exhibit in the Cochenour Gallery of the Anna Ashcraft Ensor Learning Resource Center at Georgetown College.Flanders, an Appalachian State University Assistant Professor, will be on campus for the opening reception at noon on Friday, March 1. Her talk, scheduled for 12:30, addresses the complex problem of invasive species and their effects on the global environment.

Describing this work, Professor Flanders states, “Humankind has an ongoing fascination with the exotic, perhaps driven by our need for individuality. With regard to botanical species, exotics often thrive and ultimately take over, becoming invasive. What is simply troublesome to the hobby gardener chokes out native forest plants and undermines natural ecosystems. The result is an unnatural, globalized landscape that means an inexorable death for native species.

While non-native plants can provide interest and beauty in home gardens, they often consume their native counterparts since the natural controls that would normally keep them in check are missing. In order to maintain the delicate equilibrium of our environment, we must recognize the beauty inherent in our native landscapes.

My current work addresses the issue of native versus invasive botanical species using a variety of media including printmaking, painting, drawing and installation. Relying on the visual language of seduction and revulsion, I create work where viewers are confronted by their own choices. Using pattern, repetition, and layered color I seduce the viewer into a garden of exotics.”

The opening reception and artist talk are open to the public as is the exhibit during regular operating hours of the LRC through March 28.